This invention relates generally to the field of dispensing devices and systems. More particularly, this invention relates to the field of devices and systems for dispensing paper products such as napkins, towels, bath tissue, etc.
Various types of dispensers for paper products have been developed to provide ready availability of the paper products to users. Such dispensers are often provided in public places such as restaurants or rest rooms where customers remove from the dispenser a desired amount of paper products for personal use. In some high traffic areas, such as fast food restaurants, a large number of customers may use a paper product dispenser such as a napkin dispenser in a short period of time. Therefore, dispensers have been developed that hold a large number of paper products for use by a large number of consumers.
Unfortunately, large dispensers are subject to a number of drawbacks. First, it is difficult to uniformly dispense individual paper products or a controlled amount of paper products from a large dispenser without dispensing more paper products than necessary to a user. Thus, too many paper products are removed by a user, and some of the paper products are wasted. If too many paper products are removed from a dispenser, the benefits provided by a larger dispenser are eliminated as the dispenser is emptied more rapidly.
Second, many dispensers are difficult to load, and that difficulty can increase with the size of the dispenser. If paper products are not properly loaded into the dispenser, the paper products may jam as they are removed thereby preventing further removal of paper products by users. Also, a person refilling a large dispenser is more likely, due to the larger number of paper products involved, to drop some of the paper products onto a floor. Any dropped paper products are then unsanitary and must be discarded, thereby creating more waste and again defeating the benefits of the larger dispenser.
Third, for many currently available dispensers regardless of size, it is impossible to determine without opening the dispenser how many paper products remain within the dispenser. Thus, a person must either periodically check the dispenser to determine how many paper products remain or be vigilant to refill the dispenser as soon as it is empty. Both alternatives involve much personal attention and, especially during peak usage, can lead to empty dispensers if the dispensers are not vigilantly monitored.
Some dispensers may be adapted to dispense paper products from preloaded cartridges. One drawback of these types of dispensers that the cartridge itself is designed to be loaded into and dispensed from a specific configuration of dispenser. This requires the facility to stock the appropriate cartridge for each type of dispenser used. Thus, the facility is required to monitor more than one reserve supply of paper products and to dedicate storage space for each type of preloaded cartridge used.
It is a principle object of the present invention to provide an improved cartridge for dispensing controlled amounts of paper products from a dispenser housing, the improved cartridge being readily adapted to various applications.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge for dispensing paper products that is simple and inexpensive to manufacture, and that is reliable in use.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge for dispensing paper products that provide metered delivery of individual paper products or a controlled amount of paper products.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge for dispensing paper products that reduce the incidence of waste of the paper products, either due to dispensing of too many paper products to a user or due to dropping of the paper products during refilling of a container.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge for dispensing paper products that provides an indication of the remaining amount of the paper products ready for dispensing to users.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge for dispensing paper products that reduces the incidence of jamming of paper products and the resultant inability to dispense further paper products.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge for dispensing paper products that can be used in more than one embodiment of dispenser housings or containers.
To achieve these objects and in accordance with the purposes of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a cartridge for holding and dispensing a plurality of paper products includes a cartridge body having cartridge walls and may further include removable sections defined in the cartridge body.
Generally speaking, the cartridge includes a cartridge body having cartridge walls, the cartridge being insertable into an interior area of a dispenser housing. The cartridge may further include removable sections defined in the cartridge body, removal of at least a portion of the removable portions creating openings in the cartridge. In some embodiments, the cartridge wall may include a first slit, slot, orifice or channel that may serve to control access to the paper products held within. Desirably, the first slit is defined by a rear wall and a top wall of the cartridge. However, it is contemplated that other locations may be used.
The first slit is desirably sized so that its horizontal dimension or width is about the same as or slightly greater than the width of the paper products within the cartridge and its vertical dimension or height is large enough to permit the passage of a limited number of paper products. For example, if the paper products are in the form of folded paper napkins, the vertical dimension of the first slit may be sized so that a limited number of folded paper napkins may extracted. This could be achieved by making the vertical dimension some multiple of the thickness of an individual folded paper napkin (e.g., greater than about two and less than about ten thicknesses).
The paper product may be accessed by a thumb slot and/or a finger slot. Desirably, the thumb and finger slots are located on the rear and top walls of the cartridge.
It should be understood that any reference to topographical features used to describe the container are meant to provide relative placement of one feature with respect to another feature and are not meant to designate absolute locations. As such, disposed in a bottom wall of the cartridge or the wall opposite the wall comprising the first slit, may be a second slit, slot, orifice or channel that also may serve to control access to the paper products held within. Desirably, the second slit is wholly contained by a bottom wall of the cartridge. However, it is contemplated that other locations may be used.
The second slit is sized so that only a portion of the face of a paper product is exposed to the user. By exposing only a portion of the paper product, the paper product will be caused to dispense one at a time. For example, if the paper products are in the form of folded paper napkins, the second slit may be sized to enable a user to grasp an exposed face of a single napkin, extract that napkin from the cartridge, leaving the next napkin in the stack exposed.
The cartridge may further define at least one other slot through one of the cartridge walls, the slot being visible from outside a dispenser housing when the cartridge is placed within the interior area of such a dispenser housing. An amount of paper products contained within the cartridge being determinable by visually inspecting the amount of paper products through the slot.
Desirably, other openings are provided in the cartridge for receiving protrusions situated in a dispenser housing. A first group of such protrusions is envisioned to include bumpers adapted to extend into an interior area of the carton to contact paper products and thereby oppose or slow the progression of the paper products in a dispensing direction. A second group of such protrusions is envisioned to include rib members adapted to extend into an interior area of the carton to contact paper products for spacing, slowing, aligning and supporting the paper products as they are moved in the dispensing direction.
It is also contemplated that the cartridge may have at least one additional opening corresponding to a key, rib, pin, or projection of some form located on an interior section of the dispenser housing. The key would permit the cartridge to be loaded properly into the dispenser housing. If a custodian were to attempt to incorrectly load the cartridge into the dispenser or attempt to load the cartridge in the wrong orientation, the key would not engage the opening in the cartridge thus preventing the cartridge from seating within the dispenser.
The above structure enables the cartridge, which has been preloaded with a stack of paper products, to be used with a dispenser adapted to dispense a controlled or limited number of paper products at each dispense or dispensing event. Alternatively the cartridge may be used with a dispenser adapted to dispense paper products one at a time, i.e., single dispensing. The dual use is accommodated desirably by flipping the cartridge end for end so that the front wall is placed in the rear and the rear wall is placed in the front, while switching the orientation of the top and bottom walls as well. As such this configuration would enable dispensing from each end of the stack of paper products.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through the practice of the invention.